One NBA writer is proposing that the Brooklyn Nets trade for Portland Trail Blazers superstar point guard Damian Lillard this summer.
Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report proposed that the Nets send Spencer Dinwiddie, Ben Simmons, Cam Thomas, Day’Ron Sharpe, a 2023 first-round pick, a 2025 first-round pick and a 2027 first-round pick to the Blazers for Lillard and center Jusuf Nurkić.
“There aren’t many players who could make the Nets contenders overnight, but Damian Lillard is on that short list,” Buckley wrote. “Get him to Brooklyn, where he’d have the help he lacks with Portland, and he could be the offensive focal point the franchise needs to quickly scale the ladder.
“With Lillard, who just pumped in a career-best 32.2 points per game, steering the ship, Mikal Bridges could fall back into a better-fitting co-star role. As the rest of the roster trickles down behind them, they could have a two-headed monster on offense and a highly disruptive defense with considerable length and depth.”
One NBA scout recently told NBA Analysis Network that Lillard “would like to play with” Mikal Bridges, who is currently a member of the Nets.
“There are many directions the Blazers can go this summer,” the scout said. “A lot will depend on what Dame wants to do. That’s hard to tell right now since it’s so early. If you bank on every little rumbling, you’ll have a lot of conflicting info by the time the Combine even starts. One player I know he really would like to play with is Mikal Bridges. That doesn’t mean he has to do it in Brooklyn, though. That’s a trade target I’d keep an eye on if Portland tries to add a piece around Dame.”
Lillard and Bridges could be a deadly duo together. Dame, though, has never asked for a trade from the Blazers and that likely won’t happen this summer.
Lillard has said multiple times that he wants to spend his entire career with the Blazers.
“I want to win as a Trail Blazer,” Lillard told Logan Murdock of The Ringer in October 2022. “I want to win a championship where I am. I don’t think I would feel the same joy and happiness if I did it elsewhere. I would be happy, no doubt. Like winning a chip, you get that experience. But I know how I want it.”
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